By a Single Thread
by Notary Sojac
Summary: After Order 66 is executed, two Padawans flee for their lives to a remote planet on the Outer Rim, but an unexpected danger is lurking. Two-shot.
1. Knightfall

For the first time in what felt like forever, Thaclea Reren felt truly happy. There wasn't any specific thing she could point to, but even so she felt like everything was going right. The sky above her was a bright blue, something that always cheered her up. A light breeze was blowing, cooling down the hot Coruscant day.

Behind her, her best friend Rinko stood. She looked at Thaclea and grinned. _She must have another of her crazy schemes. _"Rinks, you look like you're up to something. Care to tell me so I can join you?" she asked.

"Clea, Clea, wake up right this minute!" she shouted. Clea gave her the best 'what are you doing' look she could. Before she, who had normally very good reflexes, could react, she was slapped in the face by her friend.

Clea peered open her eyes to see her darkened room, with Rinko standing over her with her hand raised to whack her again.

"Whaddisit? Lemme alone."

"It's an emergency. Get up," Rinko snapped.

"Rinks, I don't care about the carnivorous carrots," Clea mumbled.

"It isn't the carrots, it's something worse. Get up this instant!" Rinko said, her voice edging on shouting volume.

"Rinks, is this another one of your nightmares again? Couldn't you go a week without having to wake me up for some ridiculous reason? I am trying to get some sleep here," Clea asked her friend with a groan.

"Rinks, it is a nightmare. The thing is, it's real," Rinko whispered. "I'm really sorry for waking you up like this, but trust me on this one; it's for your own safety." Clea dazedly stood up and started to put her robes on. _Of course, it has to be in the middle of the night when something bad happens,_ Clea thought.

"I can't believe I hadn't asked this before, but what the kriff is going on? I got unexpectedly woken up in a hurry. I think I deserve to know what exactly the problem is," Clea said irritably.

"Well, it appears that the clones have somehow turned on us, since I was being shot at by a few on my way over here to get you. It's pretty bad, Clea. Master Serentine was killed outside our rooms while trying to protect one of the younglings who were being shot at," Rinko said, pulling a sheet off Clea's bed. _This is most definitely not a dream or Rinks pulling my leg. I don't think either she or I could come up with a situation this bad. _"You should probably bring that with you. With all of the hullaballoo going on outside, you'll probably need it," Rinko said, pointing at Clea's lightsaber.

Rinko grabbed on to Clea's wrist and started running down the hall. Looking behind her, Clea saw Clone troopers marching up the stairs, firing their blasters at everything that moved. Unfortunately, the two Padawans were among the moving objects that they were shooting at. _I'd never thought I'd live to see the day a clone trooper shooting at me. Of course, what with so many of them, this will likely be the last time I see this,_ Clea thought grimly. Clea panted as she ran faster than she thought she ever could while following her friend. To the side, she heard the unmistakable sound of igniting lightsabers.

Stealing a peek to the side, Clea saw her master and another man she did not know fighting someone. Looking in closer, she let out a gasp of horror when she realized who they were fighting.

"Master Skywalker, what the kriff do you think you are doing?" Clea screamed.

"Clea, get out of here!" Master Thirr shouted as he parried a blow from Anakin's lightsaber. In the time it took for her master to shout to Clea, Anakin thrust his weapon into her master's chest. As he fell, a look of horror passed over his face, frozen in his moment of death.

Igniting her lightsaber, Clea started to rush in to join the two remaining combatants. "You krinking traitor! I trusted you!" she shouted at Anakin.

She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. "I say we should follow his advice and get out of here while they're occupied," Rinko whispered from behind her. "Anyway, there is one word for trying to fight someone who is five years older than you and much better at fighting. That word would be suicide. The deed was done, anyway. Nothing you could do can bring Master Thirr back and he wouldn't have wanted you to throw your life away like that." Without a further word, she grabbed Clea and started to half run, half drag her down the hallway. Looking back at the fight still going on, she looked Anakin straight in the eye and extended her middle finger toward him.

"I won't ever forget this, you karking son of a bantha!" Clea shouted behind her.

With clones following them shortly behind them, Clea and Rinko reached the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was a small window. _Rinko can't be stupid enough to think of jumping out of that window. _"Clea, grab this," Rinko said while handing two corners of the bed sheet she grabbed earlier. _Blast, did I think too soon?_ Without further direction, Rinko launched herself out of the window, pulling Clea after her, a shot from a blaster whizzing through the air where Clea's head was just seconds before.

One look down was enough to make Clea's stomach do flip flops. She barely had time to contemplate that, though, when she felt the tug on her arms from their makeshift parachute slacken. Looking up, Clea gasped with horror as she saw a large hole burned into the blanket. She let out a scream that was so loud it would make a fire alarm envious. _This is the end. We're gonna die. All that's left of my life is the time it will take us to either reach some flat, hard surface like a balcony or maybe even the ground. _

Clea stopped to take a breath. _Oh wait, why am I taking a breath? Shouldn't I be dead by now?_ She unclenched her eyes and looked around, seeing that they were falling much slower than terminal velocity on this planet. Looking over to her side, Rinko gave her a weak grin. "Mind keeping yourself up for a while? It's a bit tough trying to keep two people at once from splatting," Clea returned the smile and started using the Force to slow herself down. "Also, could you keep an eye out for any open air speeders passing under us?" _She must be trying her hardest to keep calm. She sure is doing a lot better than I am. _

Shortly afterwards, a speeder passed under them. "Drop!" Clea yelled to her friend as she stopped lifting herself. The two friends landed in a very unceremonious heap in the back seat of the speeder, much to the surprise of the driver, who jerked the controls of the speeder. "I know you're not a taxi, but could you please take us to Laron's Secondhand Clothing at 133th and 456th, on the 138th floor? Its Jedi business," Clea said in her most convincing voice to the driver, who was looking at the girls quizzically as they massaged there very sore bottoms.

The man hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Okay, I'll do it. It's on my way home anyway." Clea let out a sigh. _That hurdle's over with._

"Why are we going to a clothing store? I thought we had to get out of here!" Rinko snapped.

"Well, wearing our robes in this situation would be akin to wearing a big sign saying "Shoot me" on our backs, what with Clones and who knows what else coming after us. I was thinking of getting something in the way of a disguise," Clea shot back.

"Thanks a bunch," Clea said to the man as she got off the speeder near the clothing store. The paint was pealing from the sign, and many of the glowpanels lighting it were out, making the sign appear to read something close to Lon Sconhnd Coting.

"This place is a dump," Rinko said as she surveyed the decrepit building.

"No kidding. At least no one will think of us going here for a disguise," Clea said while walking toward the door. "We'll be safe here for at least a little while."

The inside of the building looked no better than the outside. It was rather dimly lit, and smelled disturbingly of mildew. Clea walked toward one of the racks and dragged her hand across the clothing until she found one that looked somewhat promising. Pulling it out, she showed it to Rinko. "How does it look?"

Rinko was trying and failing to stifle fits of laughter. "It looks like something taken from Senator Amidala's wardrobe. Aren't we trying to go for inconspicuous here?" The dress looked truly ridiculous, with bright red ruffles around the arms and neck, and a gigantic feathered headdress to match. There were intricate embroidered designs covering all of the rest of the dress. Rinko peered into the rack and picked out a shirt and pants to wear.

"Rinks, you are not wearing that. It's all the same shade of brown! People will think you are in some kind of uniform," Clea said with a groan. This was going to take a bit longer than she originally planned. _Let's hope that the clones don't bust in here while we're still working on a disguise. That would be ironic. _Thinking about that, she picked out a shirt and pants that appeared to be sensible enough, as far as design and color scheme went._ They look good for running in too. I sure hope we won't need that capability for a while, but I have the sneaking suspicion we're going to. _"Does this fit your specifications?" Clea asked Rinko, hopefully for the last time.

"Looks okay to me. It's just drab enough," Rinko said while pulling out a ridiculous looking coat made out a patchwork of different colored fabrics that seemed to be made to clash with each other.

"You are not wearing that eyesore in public!" Clea shouted to Rinko, who blushed and put the coat back on the rack. She picked out a thankfully boring-looking replacement.

"I think we might just be ready. Now, all we have to do is pay for these, and we can change in the 'fresher. We should lose the braids too. It makes both the fact that we're Jedi and that as Padawans we're rather inexperienced fairly blatant."

"That sounds like a very good idea. Among the mainstream population, those braids must have gone out of fashion several hundred years ago. I'll go pay for these, and I'll meet you in the 'fresher. We can decide what we're going to do next there. "

Clea walked into the 'fresher carrying both the clothes and a large and very battered looking suitcase. "Well, here they are. I also got this suitcase for the purpose of disposing with our other clothes. It would look awfully suspicious if someone looked in the garbage and found our robes. If we dispose of them at the spaceport, it will give us at least a bit more time." _Now comes the long and rather difficult process of deciding which planet to go to. This should be interesting. _"So, what do you think our criteria should be for selecting a place to go?"

"Well, I think it should have a decent climate somewhere on it. I for one don't fancy the idea of living the rest of my life on a desert planet or an iceball. It should be fairly remote, too. Less chance of anyone finding us that way," Rinko replied as she put a leg into the pair of pants she chose.

"Outer Rim good enough for that second one? It's certainly remote enough, though most planets in that area tend to be a bit, er, crime ridden. We need something else to help decide, though, since there are plenty of planets with decent climates in that area. Any ideas?" Clea asked.

"Come on, they can't all be like that. There has to be some somewhat peaceful planet somewhere. The crime thing is a good point, though. Also, we need a place where it wouldn't be unusual to see humans, for obvious reasons. Are there any Outer Rim worlds you can think of that fulfill that?" Rinko said with a trace of hopelessness in her voice.

"Well, there is the Rahno system, but it is known for being a bit, er, unusual? From my one visit there, it appears to be a fairly peaceful place, and there is a temperate zone in it, you'll be pleased to note. Their politicians also have a tendency to downright ignore the Republic whenever it wants something done too, which is a plus for our purposes, but makes them fairly, shall we say unpopular, with the Republic, which could get ugly. Unfortunately, the temperate islands have a marine climate, which makes it kind of rainy," Clea said all in one breath. It was worth a shot, even though it was a rather long one.

"Wait, Clea, did you say islands? You mean to say this is a water planet?" Rinko said with a touch of annoyance.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Clea snapped. "If you do, I'd like to know them, but we can't just stay here. We're walking targets right now, in case you haven't noticed."

"Wow, you don't have to be that snippy. I get the point. We should go right now," Rinko said. "I'm done changing; all I need to do is possibly salvage anything remotely useful from my belt."

Clea, taking the hint, took her lightsaber and a number of other useful items from her belt and turned to leave. "Reckon we should use Galactic City Spaceport? Chance Palp's likely to be too obvious; it's too close to the Temple. Even with disguises, we'll still look suspicious. Also, do we have enough for a taxi? It's too far to walk, and I don't think that people will appreciate us pulling the same stunt we pulled earlier, us being just two random teenagers and all," she said.

"We should if we pool our money. The sooner we get off planet the better. I'm already getting the feeling we've stayed here too long." With that, the two girls left the store. Clea hailed a taxi, and they were off.

Like most buildings on Coruscant, the Galactic City Spaceport was a very tall building that would have towered over the landscape except for the fact that all of the other buildings around were about the same height or taller. "Okay, how are we supposed to get up there?" Clea said pointing a ledge about four stories up that was the landing area for starships bound to Rahno. "We can't go through security, that's for sure."

"Well, I have a plan, but in order for it to work we'll need a bit of luck," Rinko said.

"How come I think that this is going to be an amazingly stupid idea?" Clea asked.

"How am I supposed to know? Anyway, you have your grapple gun, right?" Clea nodded, her eyebrows narrowing in suspicion. "Well, the plan is to aim for that ledge, and use the rope to hoist ourselves up."

"And you're absolutely sure no one will notice us getting tugged up a wall," Clea said sarcastically. _Rinks seems to be full of idiotic plans today. Maybe it's a reaction to being in near-death situations. _

"Er, I'm not sure about that. We'll have to create some kind of distraction. Of course, people have a tendency to be oblivious to unusual things. Anyway, about the distraction, do you have any ideas? We should try to be as inconspicuous as possible, though," Rinko said.

"What kind of distraction is supposed to be inconspicuous? I thought that being conspicuous was the point of a distraction. There is that group of birds over there, though. Do you have a rock?" Rinko kicked a pebble lying on the ground. "Okay, that will work," Clea said, picking up the rock and throwing it at the birds, which scattered.

Rinko grit her teeth. "Okay, now's our chance with those birds flying around." Without any further words, she grabbed the grapple gun and aimed for the high platform, hitting it squarely on the edge. Clea followed suit, hers hitting about a foot from Rinko's. Another press of a button sent them both flying up to meet the platform. A starship was parked there, and the passengers had apparently just started to board. "Let's get in that crowd. No one will notice us get on with that number of passengers on board."

"If you say so," said Clea sarcastically as she followed Rinko into the throng. With some pushing and shoving, they eventually got aboard the transport. _This is the start of my new life. So far, I don't like it very much._

Several stories below, a clone trooper spoke into his comlink. "Two possible Jedi spotted heading to gate 2211. Follow them onboard. Leave no survivors."


	2. Alone

**Thank you to pronker and ObiWriter341 for the reviews.**

"In other news, Emperor Palpatine—"Clea reached for the off switch on the holoprojector.

"Nothing but bad news now, isn't it? This Empire thing sounds like it's getting more powerful than I'd feel comfortable with," she said.

"Well, Nor, hopefully Rahno will be safe," Rinko replied, using the fake name that they had decided on using shortly after stowing away.

"Let's hope it's safer than Coruscant. Anyway, shouldn't we kinda stop talking about this kind of stuff? It's kind of, er, obvious," Clea said while staring off at a little girl, not older than ten, running around the transport.

"Who are you?" the girl asked. "I'm Lisse."

Clea jumped. "I'm Cl—Nor," she said, cursing herself for almost revealing who she really was.

"I'm going to Rahno to live with my grandparents," Lisse said.

" Erel and I are going to try to find some work as mechanics," Clea replied. Lisse reminded her of her when she was that age, looking like someone that was going to get into some kind of mischief if one didn't leave her alone.

"Nice to meet you. Good luck!" Lisse said as she ran off.

"Attention! All passengers please get back into your seats, we will be entering low Rahno orbit soon," said the pilot over the intercom. Passengers started to make their way back to the seating area, some pausing to look out the window at the planet.

"Beautiful, isn't it? Our new home," Rinko said to Clea, who was looking out the window at the expanse of blue ocean mixed in with the occasional white patch of cloud cover.

A pair of twins turned sharply around and appeared to grab something out of their belts. "Clea, duck!" The warning from Rinko came none too soon as the twins began shooting at everyone in sight. "We've been followed," Rinko said looking at Clea. _Just as I thought we might be safe for the first time in a while, things start to go to hell. _Rinko pulled her lightsaber from her pants pocket and ignited it, running up to the troopers through the rain of blasterfire. Behind her, Lisse started crying, only to have the tears turn into a scream as she was hit with a blaster shot to the head. Rinko slashed with her blue lightsaber at the clones, taking two strikes to decapitate them before collapsing on the ground herself.

"No!" Clea shouted as she ran over to where Rinko lay, next to the girl's burnt and bleeding body. "Rinko, are you okay? Please tell me you're going to survive. Please!" Even as she said that, she realized that her hopes were in vain. Rinko had received four shots to fairly critical areas, so her chances of survival, even with medical attention, which wasn't really an option because they were on the run, were dubious at best.

Rinko let out a cough, bringing up some blood. "I'm sorry. Please, don't think badly of me for this." Clea could feel her fading away.

"But, I thought we were going to make a good life together. Please, you have to survive. You have to," Clea said, her voice creeping higher and faster.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you, but there isn't anything you can do about me. It is my time to go now."

Tears began to well up in Clea's eyes. "Why did you have to play the hero? You could have at least tried to protect yourself," she said, beginning to shout.

"I saved you and many innocents that would have otherwise died. Isn't that enough for you? There was a good chance I wouldn't live very long, anyway, what with being hunted and all." Clea could feel Rinko's spirit continue to weaken, slipping away into death.

"Rinks, what am I going to do without you? Clea asked, more to herself than to Rinko. 

"Clea, promise me one thing. Promise me you won't do anything reckless or stupid. Will you promise me that?" Without further words, Rinko shut her eyes for the last time, and the up and down of her breathing stilled.

"I promise. I promise," Clea said, burying her face into her fallen friend's body. She stood up, and shouted to the room, waving her hand subtly and exerting her will over the crowd. "There is no need to remember anything of this. There was an outbreak of illness, and that caused all of the deaths." A slow murmur followed, the people repeating what she had said. _Good thing that mind trick worked. I haven't done anything this scale before, and what with Rinko— _She couldn't think any more about it. It was too painful.

Clea looked at her left hand. Where there had previously been her little finger, there was now a blackened, cauterized stump. The finger next to it was severely burnt. "Kriff," _I guess I got hit. This should serve as a lesson to me. Never let your guard down again._ She looked out the window at the planet that filled it up completely. _I will fulfill Rinko's promise, and not let her have died in vain. For as long as I can, I will try to live in peace._


End file.
